Indian Love Call

The musical was the longest running musical of the 1920s, enjoyed international success, and became the basis of four films with the same title. The song was said to have been a favorite of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. ==Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald version==

When Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald performed the song as a duet in the 1936 film version of Rose Marie, it was a hit that remained a signature song for the two singers throughout their careers. As featured in the 1936 film version, Nelson Eddy as Sergeant Bruce and Jeanette MacDonald as Rose Marie are alone by a lakeside campfire. They hear a distant and haunting call across the lake, which Bruce tells her is "just an Indian". They listen and hear in the distance a mysterious feminine voice make its reply. The rest of the scene has been summarized thus: It is an old Indian legend, he tells her. Years ago two lovers from different tribes met here. Their families were enemies, sort of a Romeo and Juliet affair. They were discovered and sentenced to die, but their spirits still live. When a lover gives the call, their spirits echo it, sending it on until it reaches the one he loves. Rose Marie is moved by the beauty of it. She stands at the edge of the lake and gives the haunting call. Sergeant Bruce takes it up and sings the classic "Indian Love Call". It was the only song from the stage score that MacDonald recorded, although Eddy recorded a number of songs from Rose Marie, including a different version of "Indian Love Call" performed as a duet with Dorothy Kirsten. == Slim Whitman version ==

In 1952, yodeling cowboy singer Slim Whitman released a version of "Indian Love Call" as his second single. The song peaked at number two on the country charts, crossing over into the pop music Top Ten, and made Whitman a star. It was also a top ten hit in the UK in 1955. Track listing Charts ==Other versions==

• In 1925, saxophonist Isham Jones recorded a version. • In 1938, Artie Shaw and His Orchestra released a version of "Indian Love Call", but it was the B-side – a version of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" – that rocketed Artie Shaw into celebrity. • In 1939, whistler Fred Lowery released a version that sold over 2 million copies. • In 1951, Chet Atkins released a version of "Indian Love Call" as a single, which was then included on various albums, including ''Stringin' Along with Chet Atkins and The Best of Chet Atkins''. • In 1958, Ernie Freeman released his (shuffle swing) instrumental version of this song. • Also in 1958, Duke Ellington's band recorded a version of it on the album Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque. • In 1962, Karl Denver's single of this song reached No. 32 on the charts in the United Kingdom. • Soul singer Gloria Lynne released a version of this song in 1964 as a B-side to "I Should Care". • In 1965, Kenny Roberts recorded "Indian Love Call" on an album of the same name. • Between 1972 and 1974, the song was covered by Singapore-based female singer Ervinna, backing music by The Charlie & His Boys, on her LP Golden Hits Of 20th Century Vol. 4 with the local White Cloud Record. • Mexican Ranchera singer Vicente Fernández release a Spanish-language version titled "Amor Indio" (Indian Love) on his 1974 album El Ídolo de México. • Country singer Ray Stevens, known primarily for novelty music, released a version of "Indian Love Call" in 1975, reaching #68 on the US Hot 100 and No. 38 on the U.S. country charts with it. The song was part of an album of covers of pop music standards. • Sara Davis Buechner included this song on her CD Rudolf Friml Piano Works. == Use in popular culture ==

• The 1996 film Mars Attacks! uses a recording of Whitman's version to kill off the Martians by way of their brains full of green goo exploding as a crucial deus ex machina. • In chapter 10 of the 1960 children's book – The Cricket in Times Square, a cat named Harry hums a few lines to the radio. • At one of Mary Martin's first auditions in Hollywood, she announced her intention to sing "in my soprano voice, a song you probably don't know, 'Indian Love Call'". After her singing the song, "a tall, craggly man who looked like a mountain" told Martin that he thought she had something special and told her, "Oh, and by the way, I know that song. I wrote it." The man was Oscar Hammerstein and the event marked the start of her career. • Spike Jones performed a characteristically zany interpretation of this song on The Spike Jones Show. • In the 1989 Jim Henson TV special, Dog City, the song is referenced with a pun that ends the film: the main character, Ace Yu, proposes to his love interest Colleen, and she sings "when I'm Colleen Yu" to the tune of the song. • Rainier Beer of Seattle, Washington, spoofed the song in 1977 for their commercial campaign, featuring Mickey Rooney and his wife, Jan, in costume. Two versions were released: one, where Rooney blindly pours a beer into a glass held by Jan at the commercial's end; and another, where the beer is poured blindly down Jan's cleavage. • When Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie performed this song as an opening number at a Valentine's Day 2009 performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Washington Post described how "Mazzie trilled 'Indian Love Call' from the stage, Danieley crooned in return, traipsing down the Terrace Theater aisle as if struck by Cupid's arrow." • The first verse is sung by an offscreen narrator in Nickelodeon's 1995 television special Oh, Brother featuring Stick Stickly, who seeks his twin brother in New York City. • Brendan Fraser and Sarah Jessica Parker performed a version of the song in the 1999 film Dudley Do-Right. • The song was spoofed on Sesame Street as "I'm in Love with U" and "Maiden Love." • In 2016, Sarah Paulson performed a short rendition in American Horror Story: Freak Show. • In 2023, Slim Whitman's version of "Indian Love Call" was included on the soundtrack to the film Asteroid City by Wes Anderson. ==See also==